State Sen. Mark Leno has chosen his New Year's resolution: changing a law that has left thousands of sex offenders homeless in the Golden State.

It won't be easy. The law that bars registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks was part of Proposition 83 - also known as Jessica's Law - an initiative approved in 2006. It had the unintentional effect of reducing the number of places where sex offenders can live so dramatically that many are forced onto the street.

Because the measure was passed by voters, it would require a statewide vote or a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to change it. Either would be a tough sell.

"I am hopeful we can do something about the residency restrictions in the coming year," said Leno, a San Francisco Democrat. "We know they don't work. Other states have tried them, and they have the unintended consequence of driving people underground so we have no awareness of where they are or what they are doing. That does not enhance public safety."

Transient criminals

The restriction has resulted in more than 2,100 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders becoming transient in California since the law was implemented three years ago - about one-third of the state's total paroled sex offenders, and a 24-fold increase since the law passed. In dense cities such as San Francisco, where there is virtually no housing that meets the restriction, more than 80 percent of paroled sex offenders are homeless.

Experts say the measure, designed to protect children, may actually be making communities less safe, in part because instability can increase the risk that an offender will commit another sex crime.

A recent state task force composed of state and local law enforcement officials, victims' advocates and treatment providers recommended repealing the blanket residency restriction, finding it has not improved public safety and has actually "compromised the effective monitoring and supervision of sex offender parolees." Instead, they suggest reverting to previous laws, which focused residency restrictions on high-risk offenders.

But Leno is likely to run into opposition from both Democrats who don't want to appear soft on crime and Republicans who are loath to relax any criminal penalties. GOP lawmakers brought Jessica's Law to voters in the first place because they were unable to get it through the Democratic-controlled Legislature without major changes.

Crime victims groups, which supported Jessica's Law, might also be wary of any changes. Nina Salarno Ashford, an executive board member at Crime Victims United of California, said the group would be opposed to eliminating the residency restriction but open to a discussion about making it more effective.

"We're always open to coming to the table and working to find better solutions," she said. "Jessica's Law was great, any law like that is, but you have to sometimes come back around and look at what's working and what's not."

Bipartisan push

Leno also appears to be aiming for a bit of bipartisan magic. He worked alongside Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, this year to refine another sex offender bill, Chelsea's Law, which instituted both stiffer punishments for the worst sex offenders and ongoing assessments and treatment for those who are released.

Fletcher, who is part of the Assembly GOP leadership team, said he would be willing to talk about changes to the residency restriction.

"I'm open to having a conversation to see if there's a way we can structure something that works," he said.

A growing number of individual sex offenders challenging the residency restriction in court could also aid Leno's attempt. A February California Supreme Court decision allowed Jessica's Law to be applied retroactively to inmates imprisoned before the law took effect. But it also permitted sex offenders to challenge the law's residency requirements when they are paroled to cities where living near no schools or parks is impossible.

Since then, hundreds of sex offenders across the state have sued and won reprieves from the law. In the largest case, a Los Angeles County judge in November issued a temporary ban on enforcement of the law in that county, the state's largest.

San Francisco officials have long criticized the residency restriction, which has made it impossible for a sex offender to legally live anywhere in the city, except for some small areas of the impoverished, high-crime Bayview-Hunters Point.

Concern for sick

Recently, local officials have been working to at least get severely ill sex offenders legally housed. The city's Reentry Council - which includes local, state and federal law enforcement officials - is concerned that a number of paroled sex offenders that have AIDS, cancer or other debilitating, chronic illnesses have been able to find housing but barred actually from moving in, because it would violate their parole terms.

Jessica Flintoft, policy director at the Reentry Council, said state parole officials are allowed under the state's policies to grant exceptions to the residency restrictions if someone is sick, but they have not been willing to do so. The group is considering asking the state to improve its process for reviewing these types of exceptions next year.

Prop. 83

More than 30 states have versions of Jessica's Law, named for Jessica Lunsford, 9, who in 2005 was abducted in Florida by a registered sex offender, then raped and killed. California's version, passed in 2006 as Prop. 83, increased sex-offense penalties, requires that registered sex offenders be monitored and bars them from living within 2,000 feet of parks and schools.